Chrono Universe
by SilveyStarDusthotmail.com
Summary: What would happen if Chrono and his friends were thrown into another universe and took the place of another well known game, Secret of Mana?
1. Chapter I Millennial Fair

Introduction

After Lavos had finally been defeated, the seven legendary characters each went to their own time period, making time fluctuate correctly. Without Lavos in the sequence of time, the time line changed dramatically, because now the evil that was the root of all problems no longer existed. All of time was rewritten from the point at which lavos had come into Crono's world, including the day in which Crono himself traveled through time to save the world.

Chapter I

The Millennial Fair

Truce in year one thousand AD, a new year, the sounds of birds can be heard traveling from the sea, while the sounds of the festival and the tolling bells are heard in the distance. Knock, Knock! "Crono, " pause, "Crono!" "Wake, up Crono!" Day light streams into Crono's room waking him from his pleasant dreams. He rubs his eyes in a confused daze then stares into the face of his mother. "Wake up, Crono! Come on Crono. You've waited so long for the millennial fair, how could you possibly be sleeping? " Crono's mother moves away from the curtains to the staircase that leads from his room to the living room. "Leene's Bell sounds so beautiful today, I couldn't possibly imagine life without it. You behave yourself today, and have fun." Crono rubs his face some more, "I will, don't worry." "Come on! Let's get a move on.", his mother goes downstairs and begins making breakfast.

Crono has no father, he only lives with his dear mother and a cat named Fritz. Downstairs there is a small living room and kitchen. There is a small room beside the stairs that belongs to his mother that is inaccessible to Crono. His whole life he has lived in Truce with his mother. The town is small with only a few residences, an inn, a shop or two, and a harbor. His life would seem ordinary to most.

Dressed in his favorite clothes Crono heads downstairs to the Millennial Fair, he plans to skip breakfast since he has already missed the opening ceremony. "Oh, I see that you've finally gotten up, " Crono's mother stands in front of the staircase with Fritz at her face, "Oh, Crono! I almost forgot! Your best friend . . . uh . . . you know . . . ", she concentrates, "Oh, crap! I've forgotten her name!" "Lucca? " "That's it Lucca! She wants you to come see her new invention as soon as possible, she said it's the best one yet. Now, run along, please be back before dinner." Crono's mother begins walking over to the kitchen stove, "Oh dear! I almost forgot. Here's your allowance. Now go have fun!"

The sky is clear and the sun is shining. Crono races over to the Millennial Fair around noon, and finds the place crowded with joyous people. Contests are everywhere, and at each place silver coins are passed out to earn prizes and real money. In the center square merchants sell all kinds of items. A gorgeous fountain shimmers, Crono looks in and sees his reflection, never before has he felt so alive with all the excitement around him. He spends his time gambling at the races and trying to pass the strength test. He spends his money and buys a music box for his room. Finally he moves north into another section of the fair.

As Crono walks under Leene's Bell a beautiful young girl ran into Crono without looking. The two fall over and the girl's pendant flies off her body onto the ground. "Ouch! I've got to be more careful." The girl stands up, her hair is pulled back into a pony tail, and she is dressed in a rich silk ensemble of a fine green and blue color. Her eyes are so beautiful that Crono stares blankly into them as he lays helpless on the floor. "I'm really sorry, sir! Are you okay?" Crono tries desperately to say something, but he can't think of anything intelligent to say, he just stares blankly at her. "Wait, oh no! What happened to my pendant? I couldn't have lost it, I just couldn't have!" Crono sees a pendant shimmering in a shrubbery, it was so bright it was amazing that the girl couldn't see it. Nevertheless, Crono didn't care, he got up and rushed to the pendant. Picking it up, with pure joy, he ran over to her and showed her that he had found it. "My pendant! It means a lot to me. May I have it back, please? " Crono, while thinking why she even needed to ask, "Of course, take it." "Thank you! I um . . . you see, I came to the festival, but I'm not from around here. I feel a little awkward. You wouldn't mind if . . . I uh, walked around with you for a while. Just so I won't feel lonely, and all." Crono stared at her dumbfounded. Did she read his mind? "Sure." The girl smiles and says, "Oh, you're so sweet. By the way my name is . . . uh . . . Marle! And you're? "Crono." She giggles, "Really, I like that. Pleased to meet you Crono."

Crono is totally thrown off by why the girl is following him. The only girl who normally even talks to him is Lucca, this girl is so different from any other girl Crono has ever seen, yet she has a familiar quality to her, something that seems beyond anything he has ever seen before. While the two are enjoying a drinking contest a little girl begins to cry because she lost her cat. "Are you okay? " Marle asks the little girl. "Waaaah! I want my kitty." "I'm sorry sweety, Crono have you seen any cats? " Crono actually had seen a tabby cat before. In fact it had been around the deli. Crono and Marle found the tabby cat and brought it to the little girl. "You're such a gentleman, Crono. Where I come from, no one would care enough to have brought her cat to her. I wish there were more people like you." Crono thinks to himself. "More people like me? What is that supposed to mean? " Crono and Marle went shopping in the town center. An old geezer named Melchior came up to Crono, "Sir, would you mind asking that young lady you're with if she would sell her pendant to me? " Crono looked at him funny then walked Marle away from the stall. He didn't want Marle to be upset by such a strange, obscure question. "Ladies and gentleman, " a person's voice was heard over a speaker box, "Lucca the great has finally gotten her new invention set-up in the northern part of the fair! Please come enjoy a show that she has set-up for your entertainment." "Ooh! Let's go see what that's all about!" Marle says pulling Crono by the arm to Lucca's sideshow. Crono felt lucky. Most people are annoyed by Lucca's inventions, although she's never seen one so that lucky feeling might go away once Lucca blows-up another church or turns a puppy inside-out.

"Hey, wait!" Marle suddenly stops right before the entrance to Lucca's invention. "Yeah? " "Is it okay if I get some candy? " "Um, sure I guess. Doesn't bother me." Marle turns around and buys some candy from a lady. Crono waits patiently. Then Marle grabs his arm and she races him to Lucca's show.

"Ladies and Gentleman! Step right on up, and be amazed by my daughter and my new invention. Our "Super Dimension Warp" is the invention of the century! Step over here, and wa-la you will suddenly be teleported to this device on my right. Pretty cool, eh?" Everyone stares blankly at Taban, Lucca's father, no one dares make a move. Who in their right mind would dare their entire life? "What a kick! It looks like fun! I'll try it!" "Whoa, who's the babe, Crono? Doesn't she seem kinda out of your league? Is she blind? " Lucca says this only to Crono. Crono looks at her like he's about to kill her. First, her invention will go all wrong, and Marle wants to try-it-out. Second, Lucca is Crono's best friend. When the invention goes horribly wrong, he'll have to make a decision. The bookish kindred best friend or the totally hot babe that he just met today. Lastly, Lucca just made a comment that he had been thinking about all day. "Okay, everyone, let's give her a great big hand when she reappears. Just step onto the platform on the left side." Taban says with relief. "Okey, dokey!" Marle jumps up onto the platform. Taban, "All systems on" Lucca in reply "Beginning energy transfer." Father and daughter crank the machine, when suddenly a huge volt of electricity runs through the machine. Behind the machine a dark hole appears. Volts of light flash out of it, and Marle screams. Her pendant shimmers a bright white light that. She is sucked into the hole, screaming. She vanishes.

"Where is she? Lucca, where is she? The show's over folks! Get out of

here," Taban was furious. Everybody leaves, they seemed so shocked they didn't even care to make a commotion. "She . . . she disappeared. What could have possibly happened? The warp field, it seemed as if that pendant she was wearing was affected by it." Lucca stands there pondering. She's in a panic. Taban shouts, "What in tarnation do you propose we do now?" Lucca frowns, "She looked so familiar. Who is that girl Crono?" "Uh, well, she's Marle, a girl I ran into and nothing really happened, but . . . " Lucca looks at him like she wants to hit him, "What are you talking about Crono? We have a crisis on our hands. We can't have a missing girl! We could be put in jail for manslaughter!" Crono hesitates, "Then I'll go. I'll go in after her." Crono steps onto the platform as he says this, and holds firmly onto the pedant, as if it is going to magically jump out of his hands. Lucca is shocked, "You're going in after her? You could be lost! You might even die! You have no idea if this is even going to teleport you somewhere. Have you lost your mind?" Crono doesn't care, "It's the only way to find her." Lucca is impressed, horrified, but mainly impressed, "Then, let's do this." Taban, start the engine! "All systems on!" Lucca runs over to her station "Beginning energy transfer!" The hole appears again, Crono holds firmly to the pendant, he doesn't want to lose it, because it could be the only key back home. The pendant shimmers, and his hands feel as if they're on fire. He's body begins to shake and he loses consciousness. He is sucked in into the unknown vortex.

"Crono! I'll follow you after I know what went wrong!" Lucca screams as he vanishes. Her words echo in the darkness millions of times, even after Crono finally awakes from his unconscious mode he can still hear her words throughout the vortex. Lucca's words were repeated so many times that Crono thought it would never stop. Then they did. A new voice was heard. . .

". . . Though the civilization had been destroyed, the world was peaceful again. But time flows like a river. . . and history. . . repeats. . ."

"Where am I?" Crono says as he slowly lifts his head from the ground where he sees two boys standing on a bridge with a waterfall rushing behind all of them.


	2. Chapter II The Queen Returns

Chapter II The Queens Returns

"What are you talking about Crono?", the freakishly large boy says this, while his skinny friend looks timidly around. "Have you lost your mind Crono? If the elder hears us, he'll be mad! We're not supposed to be over here, remember? So don't be so loud." The two boys seem rather odd standing by each other. One looks like they have never been fed in their entire life, and he just seems to stand there, shaking. The other boy is huge. He looks like a giant boulder, which brings question as to how this bridge can support him, plus Crono and the shaky boy. Shaky says stuttering, "Yeah, we're not supposed t-t-t-to be here. T-t-t-t-t-there's a g-g-g-g-host around here!" Fat-boy laughs hysterically, "Do you really believe that tripe? People say that just to scare us!" "Nevertheless, I heard Grandma say something about a sh-sh-sh-iny object near the falls! It must be s-s-s-some kind of treasure. We have to find it!" Crono is confused. Isn't it weird that he suddenly appeared out of nowhere? Why haven't they freaked out? Which brings another question, how did the fat boy know his name? As Crono is pondering these questions and several others, Shaky and Fatso begin to walk off the bridge, as Crono gets up to follow them he slips on the edge of the bridge. He falls, but catches onto some bark of the log bridge. "Help! I'm falling!" The two boys stare at each other. Neither try to help Crono.

Crono's grasp dies shortly, he falls, which to him seems like an eternity, but the fall was actually quite short and instead of a messy thud he made a successful splash. The water broke his fall, but that doesn't mean he avoided pain. "Ouch! Man. . . . what is going on? Where's Marle? Did she come to this place? There is no way I can get back up. Maybe I should try to catch up with those strange boys. How though?", Crono thinks this all to himself. The sound of the river is all around him with the cooing of crickets and tweeting of birds. After swimming out of the water, he finds one path that he is forced to take. Everywhere else leads to a barrier of rocks and trees. He walks alongside the path, wondering if maybe he's died and this is some sort of strange afterlife. "Crono! Crono!", a loud voice summons him, but there is no visible speaker, a bright white light overcame Crono's eyes as his name was shouted. "What? Who are you?", Crono yells this back, but there is no answer. He carries on around the river's bend. He meets a dead end. The only way forward is through a patch of grass that is so high that it would be unbearable to journey through. "I hear voices coming north of here. I have to find something to cut through . . . What happened to my sword?", Crono looks around helplessly. "I have everything else from before I came here. Why would my sword disappear? Wait . . . maybe I didn't take my sword to the Millennial Fair. Why would I?", Crono turns around and notices that in the middle of the river there is a stone with a sword stuck in it. The water looks shallow enough to walk through, and since Crono is desperate for the sword he goes back into the river, wishing he had some spare clothes.

Just as he finally is in front of the strange stone, the same voice heard moments before shrieks, "Crono remove the sword!", the strange emitting light evokes the area again. Crono was startled, "Who are you?", Crono pulls the sword with haste. "That light, it's so bright I can't see . . . Ah! You're a ghost!" As the light dissipates, a transparent specter with his arms held out appears. The strange creature, who must have called Crono before, speaks, "Crono it is I who asked the sword . . . " His body disappears and the light completely vanishes. The silver stone sword in Crono's hands is rusted, it is so aged yet just looking at the sword any individual could tell that it had more power within it than it was truly showing.

"Did Marle end up in this place? Where is she?" Crono walks out of the shallow river. Slashing his way out of the grassy patch, he made his way to the loud noise he had heard. Along the way he saw creatures that resembled a bunny, for some reason this creature would attack him. Crono tried to avoid the bunny creatures, but for some reason none of the bunny creatures could resist putting their sharp teeth into his flesh. He didn't want to hurt them, but eventually he used his sword because he was tired of the bunny creatures biting at his legs. He finally met up with the loud noise, and found himself at a village.

The streets were busy with people walking around enjoying the summer sun. In its entirety the village was small, it consisted of a few houses, a shop, and an inn. An old woman came up to Crono, "Did you see that Crono? A minute ago something lit up the sky near the falls. I have a really bad feeling about this . . . " Crono was confused, "Where am I?" The woman seemed docile, " 'Where am I?' Have you hit the skids Crono? This is Potos! You've lived here since you were an infant. You've meddled with my grandson Timothy for years. Do you have a fever, boy?" Before she could put her hand on Crono's forehead, Crono scurried away. He found himself at another entrance into the village, a man stood in front of it looking every which way, "Magus' army has surrounded the village. Something is definitely wrong out there. It would be best if everyone would stay inside the village, Crono-boy." The man says this firmly, but fear was obviously in him by looking at his stare stricken eyes. "Magus' army fought Guardia four-hundred years ago, does that mean I'm in the past?"

A little boy came up to Crono, "Crono, Crono! There is a strange guy in the pub. He's been here ever since Magus' army came over and started putting monsters everywhere!" The little boy scatters away, like any little children love to do, it appears as if he runs off to his house. Crono assumes that the little boy wanted him to scare off the stranger, but knowing what a child means is often a challenge since children are unsure of what they mean half-the-time. Crono goes to the inn, but to find a stranger in a place where you are a stranger yourself isn't even somewhat logical.

He found the pub. He entered assuming it would be a dismal place where drunkards and convicts were laying in waste, since this was how Crono's inn was back in Truce. Instead he found it to be quite cozy. A little bar with some stools, and a couple of tables. There was bar tender, and a single waitress running around the place, but her attitude seemed so fluctuate that it didn't seem like there needed to be any other working staff beyond her and the bartender. Crono began talking to each person in the bar, searching for someone who was different, Crono decided that it couldn't hurt to undergo a small task before going back to his search for Marle. A man drinking at the counter began talking to Crono once he saw him, "That Magus army destroyed the gateway near the Water Palace that leads to Ozzie's Castle. Now no one can use the teleport to travel to Gaia's Navel. I really hate that Magus. If I lived in Pandora, I would join the knight's squad." Crono didn't know how to reply so he just agreed with the man. Crono then began to overhear a discussion between two villagers, "What a relief! They found the Queen of Pandora wandering around Gaia's Navel." The other villager spoke with astonishment, "Everyone was so worried! The king really freaked out when the Queen took off." Jovially the first villager spoke, "I thought maybe Magus had grabbed her. Thank goodness, she's safe!" Crono thought to himself, "Four-hundred years ago the Queen of Guardia was missing for a short period of time, but they found her in the Cathedral under a rampage of religious cult functionaries, not in this Gaia's Navel. Maybe I'm not in the past." A man in the corner sipping on his cider was sitting alone dressed in traveling clothes of an orange vestment and a salvage turban. With one glance Crono knew this was the stranger the child had been speaking about earlier. The person didn't look scary at all, but the way his clothes were fashioned, were so different from the rest of the villagers that anyone could tell that he was an outsider.

Crono walked over to the man and sat in the stool next to him. "What year is it?" Crono asked knowing that people found it extremely idiotic. The man laughed, " 'What year is it?' Ha! That's about the funniest thing I've heard in years. You must be totally lost kid. Do you even know where you are?" Crono shook his head. "Ha! That's a riot. This here is Potos. It's a small village that belongs to the power of Pandora. All over the continent a war has broken out against Magus and his army. No one has kept records on what year it is since the war with the Mana Fortress. Time itself hasn't been recorded since then. I would trace time if I could figure out when that happened, but for some reason no one else seems to care so no one really knows how long ago that was. So knowing the year is impossible." Crono stared at him in amazement. Either Magus is just a bad guy who is always plotting against the world, or he is back in the past and history wasn't accurately written. "Are you a stranger here too kid? I'm Toma the explorer. I search the world for the most valuable items in existence. If you're buying, I'll tell you a story." Crono was intrigued, "Okay, I'll pay." Toma's smile went from ear to ear, "Bar tender, get me twenty ciders and ten for the road." Crono's jaw dropped to the floor. "Good lord! Does he really expect me to pay that much?" As Toma sipped his cider he started his story, "It's about the Queen of Pandora. She disappeared while traveling to the Water Palace to the west, and . . . " Crono interrupted, "They found her by Gaia's Navel." Beg your pardon? What? They Found her? Never mind . . . I was so sure though that something fishy was going on around the palace . . . " After paying Toma's extensive bill, Crono left the pub, he thought about how empty his pockets were.

Outside of the pub Shaky came up to Crono, "Elder wants t-t-t-to see you!" Crono thought to himself, "Who is this elder that these ignoramuses keep talking about? Is he like the mayor?" Shaky leads Crono to the elder's house. The elder's house was in the far east corner of the village, and it was by far the richest house around. In front of the luxurious house stood Fatso and the Elder. "Crono! You're not hurt! They just told me what happened," the elder was old, his beard was long and he wore a lavishly made cloak. Fatso, obviously pretending to be afraid, "I thought you were a goner!" Shaky yelled, "I t-t-told you it was st-st-st-stupid to bring someone like _him_ along!" The elder was furious, "You idiots! Weren't you told never to go there?", he pauses and stares at Crono's hand, "What's that you have?" He's eyes widen and he puts his hands to his cheeks, "Oh no! It couldn't be!" Fatso becomes excited, "Cool! Did you find the treasure?" The elder's face scrunches together, a vein in his forehead bulges, "What have you done? How could you have pulled the Mana Sword! It's impossible!" Shaky goes into a violent rage of shaking, "T-t-t-t-t-t-he Mana s-s-s-s-ssword? Legend has it t-t-t-t-that our village is f-f-f-f-f-inished . . . " the elder interrupts the stuttering, " . . . if the sword is removed, and, oh behold, here it is! The Mana Sword has been protecting our village from infinite disaster!" Fatso cracks his knuckles, "So that's it!", everyone is a little confused by what Fatso just said, "That's why all the monsters are attacking us now! How could an outsider like you yank out the sword and bring doom to us all!" Fatso takes his arm and punches Crono square in the gut. The pain spread throughout Crono's body. Being hit by someone four times larger than himself, made Crono feel as if all his internal organs were being smashed together, and the only reason he was still living was because his stomach was empty so it didn't splurge against the other vital organs. "Hey, stop it!", Crono said while trying to defend himself. Fatso moved in closer, "You did it!" He hit Crono again. "It's your fault!" He tried to hit him again, but Crono moved away. "Hey, I'm the one with the sword, so stop it!" Fatso stared into Crono's face, it was the look of a child who had just come home to find their parent selling their puppy, "You . . . " Crono and Fatso had moved far away from the elder's house after all the attempts to cause Crono internal bleeding. The earth underneath both Crono and Fatso began to shake violently, it began to crumble, Fatso fell in and Crono fell after. Everyone in the village was screaming from the earthquake. Toma ran out of the pub and leaned over the hole.

The hole was pitch black. Crono couldn't even see his feet much less Fatso. He heard Fatso screaming as if someone was slicing him. Crono then realized he just had his eyes closed. "Help! You have a sword Crono! Use it!" Crono turned around slowly, but he wished he never had. Behind him was a giant mantis ant with claws that could have sliced him with one cut, and teeth the size of his head. It danced around Crono and attempted to hit Crono, however, it was surprisingly slow, and while its claw had found its way into the ground from the obtrusive miss, Crono took the sword and started bashing it against the mantis ant's head, and then he realized it was a sword so he stabbed it and the mantis ant screeched and began to flow with blood, its whole body began oozing with dark red blood, the mantis ant was dying. "Hey, Crono! Elliot! Grab the rope!" From the hole a rope was thrown, it truly looked only suitable for Crono to be able to climb. The mantis ant collapsed, it's bloody corpse was so hideous it would have made Crono cry if he had been back at home. Elliot, or shall I say Fatso, raced over to the rope and began climbing. Watching him climb was so horrific that Crono turned his head to look at the mantis ant, then he began to climb the rope as well.

The village was quiet as Crono submerged from the hole, except from the whimpering cries of Elliot. In Crono's right hand he held the bloody sword. Everyone raced off to the elder's house, except Toma. "My, my. That appears to be the real Mana Sword. How on earth did you find it? I only dreamed I could ever see it. It looks like it needs to be reforged to unleash its ultimate power." Crono blinked, "Here, you take it." Toma laughed, "No, no. Only the person who pulled it free can actually use it with its full power. I would look like a fool if even tried to use it. Plus, I'm a treasure hunter, it's a pleasure just to see the Mana Sword." All the joy that was spreading throughtout the village before was now gone, now it was so quiet and bleak that it almost seemed as if Crono were in a different place, although he wasn't. "Crono, you should visit the sage Luka in her Water Palace. She's been protecting these lands for about two-hundred years. She'll give you good advice on the sword, and on the power of mana." Toma stares at the Mana Sword, he obviously was looking at all it's markings, it was an amazing looking sword. Shaky came scampering out of the elder's house. He was out of breath by the time he reached Crono which made his stuttering even worse, "Cr-on-o! T-t-t-t-the Elder w-w-w-wants you in his h-h-h-h-house." Shaky bent over and put his hands on his knees. The kid was so out of shape. Toma comes out of his trance, "I have to be off. I'll wait for you inside the Water Palace. Talk to Banta the Canon Man; he'll transport you to the Water Palace in seconds." Toma left the scene, leaving Crono with the bloody sword and Shaky, who was concentrating on breathing. Crono walked over to the elder's house. While he entered, he heard people lashing out.

"Elder! We can't go on like this!", One villager exclaimed, another one with a pitchfork complied, "Yeah! There's absolutely no sign of relief!" The female waitress, Crono had seen earlier at the pub, cried out in rage, "I think he's part of Magus' army! We've never had monster problems before! I mean he is the only outsider!" The villagers were all furious, all were rambling about the monsters or the Mana Sword. The elder bent his head low, "Oh, Crono! You've really done it to me this time! The reason monsters have appeared is because you have removed the sword." The villager with the pitchfork yelled again, "It's settled then. We can't let Crono stay in the village anymore!" Timothy's grandma blurted out, "If we do, more monsters will come after him!" Everyone looked afraid. The pitchfork man yelled again, "Go! Get out of here! Get on your way now!" The elder looked down, "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the village. You can take what's in the treasure chest downstairs." Everyone gawked at Crono as he walked downstairs. He found himself in a room with a bed, a chest of drawers, a table, and a lavishly made green treasure chest. These were Crono's belongings, but how can this be? He's never been here in his entire life. These must be the belongings of another boy they've mistaken Crono for, except how could it be possible that they are both named Crono? Crono moved over to the chest. Inside he found a small amount of money. It was only enough to provide for a couple of meals. Crono left the room and proceeded upstairs, all the villagers had gone, but the ancient elder stood in the middle of the room transfixed with the door, it was as if he had been a statue. As Crono made his way to the door the elder spoke, "I took you in and I raised you. Yet there's nothing I can do to help. Please forgive me." The elder began to sob, "I know I've told you this before, but . . . " Crono thought to himself, before? ". . .Your mother brought you to this village when you were just a baby. Soon afterwards, she disappeared . . . I took you and have done my best to raise you. But now we must part forever. I truly hope you'll find your mother some day." Crono wasn't sure how to react. "Should I smile? Should I hug the man? Should I leave in a furious rage and break every piece of china like a child?" "Goodbye, Crono. May life be good to you outside of Potos." Crono didn't have time to make a decision on how to react; because the elder immediately went downstairs. Crono left the house. People were frightened of him, they flocked to their houses or gave him ghoulish glares from their safe patios. The man who earlier was guarding the entrance guided Crono to the same entrance, "You are hereby banished from Potos village. Now, get out of here!" The man forced Crono away and then he stood in front of the village entrance. Crono would never be able to go back through Potos again, including the falls where he appeared.

Crono began to walk away from Potos. Instantly monsters began to follow him. He saw a sign that said "Banta the Canon Man," Crono followed the sign remembering that Toma said Banta would take him to the Water Palace. To his surprise he found a man who really looked like a cave man, he had the beard and the clothes to match and behind him was a real canon. Crono walked up to him, "Will you take me to the Water Palace?" "You must be that Crono kid Toma was talking about. He already paid for your trip." Crono suddenly noticed that Banta had a hammer in his hand and that black smudge marks were all over his body. Crono was perplexed, "Have you been working on the canon?" Crono thought it was a joke when he said hop into the canon. Banta scratched his head, "Actually, I'm forging a bell for the King of Pandora to present to his beloved Queen. I lost my will for it when the Queen disappeared. I just couldn't keep working on the bell. But now it's back to business as usual. I love to make things, ya see? Now are you going to get in the canon or not?" Crono thought this was funny, so he thought he'd humor the old man so he got into the canon. Sitting in the dark canon, he noticed that it had a peculiar smell of sulfur. He began thinking it was ludicrous sitting in there, especially after about five minutes. The joke's over, why is Banta carrying on? Then out of nowhere Crono heard something sizzle, then he realized he was being airborne, Banta had lit the canon, and now Crono was flying across the sky. He flew miles above ground, Crono thought he was going to die, he suddenly began to fall and he was coming closer and closer to what resembled a palace, which must be the Water palace. He collided with the ground which surprisingly was comfortable. Logically, Crono couldn't figure out how that was possible. Maybe Banta was a wizard.

In front of the castle a group of soldiers were babbling hastily. The commander had golden blond hair, his stature was equal to a gladiator, his hand was stationed upon a spear that was twice his size, and most importantly he seemed rather domineering. "Alright men! We're going to infiltrate Ozzie's castle. We must follow orders perfectly! Do we have all our rations and preparation guides?" "Yes," said an annoyed solider "For god's sake we have your stupid preparation guides." "Then let's go men!",the golden blond commander guided the men to the west where they stood on some sort of symbol and then suddenly they vanished. Crono thought to himself, "That must be the teleport that one guy was talking about in Potos. I could have sworn he said it was broken." Crono made his way to the Water Palace. It was so beautiful. The water was so crystal clear, that Crono thought that this must be the cleanest water in the whole universe. He waltzed through the front gate of the palace. Walking through the palace entrance his steps echoed across the corridor, his mission seemed so significant, but when he thought it over it was so simple, he only thought about how silly it was to ask about how to use a sword. He finally made his way to the throne, where a esthetical young lady dressed in a blue gown stood in front of a gleaming blue alter where water flowed in and out, around an object that resembled a seed. Toma stood in front of her, but Crono only noticed this after moving much closer to the alter. The woman spoke, "Welcome, I am Luka." Crono thought, "Wow she's two-hundred years old an she looks that beautiful? What's this water made of?" Toma began to speak,"Luka, monsters are invading villages. This boy just fought one in Potos." Luka rolled her eyes, "I know. The ebb and flow of water brings me news from around the world, Toma. Mana's power is growing weak. That's why this ordinary boy was able to draw the Mana Sword. When he did, the whole entire balance of Mana shifted in this area, that's why monsters are lurking. There are evil monsters working to steal away the power of Mana. By defeating the evil monsters, you will restore the sword's power. You must find someone who is worthy enough to forge the sword and release it's sacred power. Magus must want to control the sacred power of Mana. This must be why monsters are rapidly increasing! He must be seeking to obtain the Mana Fortress!" Crono is overwhelmed by all that Luka has to say, but in all honesty he is stuck on the word "ordinary". Luka begins to speak yet again, "The Empire is going to unlock the seals from the world's Mana seeds. A bunch of strangers have already started snooping around here!" Crono assumes she must be talking about the object behind her. Toma then inquires about another subject, "Luka, something is wrong in Pandora. Could the Empire be involved?" Luka looks frightened, "I don't know Toma, see the king of Pandora and tell him to be cautious." Crono thinks to himself "I thought she said she knew everything. . ." "Right, I'm on my way. Crono, you go to the cave called Gaia's Navel. Dwarves live there. They make good weapons and know all about them. They may know somebody who can reforge and empower the Mana Sword." Toma hurries off, undeniably headed for Pandora. Crono began to walk away, "Wait! Crono!", Luka stopped Crono, "Walk up to the seed and hold your sword up high." Crono walked up to the seed and held the sword, a bright light emitted and his body felt as if it was being restored. Luka smiled, "In order to save mana, you must use the Mana Sword to seal it's power. Now the seeds power will come to the sword when you use it. As well it has been sealed from all others. Only you can use the water seeds power. You must go throughout the world and seal the other seven seeds Crono, so please, you must hurry, Magus is a danger to us all."

Crono left the Water Palace. He headed south hoping to run into Gaia's Navel along the way. Crono suddenly heard the screams of a familiar voice. He rushed across the narrow pathway and found himself face to face with forest. He forced his ears to listen for the screams, but he heard nothing. While looking around the trees he noticed an area behind some shrubberies. He moved around them and found a goblin village in the middle of some sort of ritual feast. In the center a young girl was sitting in a black cauldron, underneath her two goblins were beginning to make a fire. The girl screamed, "Help!" One of the green virulent goblins put their old nasty hairy green finger on her face, "You! Do not move! Okay? Just stay very still!" The other goblin spit into the caldron, "You are very lucky! You're going to be our main dish!" Crono stood in horror. They were going to cook the young girl. "Help, Let me go!", she screamed again, and this time Crono realized who the girl was. It was Marle. At any other time Crono would have been thrilled to have found her, but this only made Crono feel the pressure of anxiety. Marle was stuck in the caldron guarded by the two goblins, and Crono was clearly on the other side of the forest hidden by a few scanty shrubberies. Crono decided to move closer to Marle, hoping for a chance to save her from the sporadic goblins. One of the goblins cackled, "You look delicious!" Marle screamed. A horrible music rendition was beginning and some goblins began chanting. Some began dancing around a huge fire and a poorly made totem pole. Crono was now directly behind Marle and the two goblins. One of the goblins looked around the area, spot checking for any other life form besides Marle, then he signaled something to the other stupid goblin "Hey! The dancing has already begun! Let's join in!" The two goblins began laughing then they raced over to the blazing fire. Marle sat in the pot crying, she couldn't find any escape. "Hey!", Crono moved in closer as he whispered this. Crono whispered again, "Hey, you!" Marle turned around this time and saw Crono, she didn't recognize him because he was so far, "Please help me!", she pleaded, Crono raced over to the pot and raised her up, he then proceeded to carry her out, the two raced out of the goblin ceremony, making as little sound as possible.

They finally stopped around a large oak tree near a petite bridge, which was miles from the goblin village. Both of them were out of breath. Marle finally spoke, "I owe you my life." Night had settled in. Darkness was everywhere, the only visible light came from the moon. "Could you come closer. I want to see the face of my hero." Crono moved closer to Marle. "Why, it's you Crono! I'm so relieved you're here!" Her smile was visible through the moonlight. She looked just as angelic as she did at the Millennial Fair. "Everyone keeps calling me, Leene . . . They think I'm the heir to throne of Pandora." Crono then realizes that she is the girl everyone thinks is the queen, which means the real queen is missing. Marle smiles, "We barely know each other, but somehow, I knew you'd come for me . . . Thank you, Crono." Marle panics, her body goes into a rampage and she violently shakes, darkness enthralls her entire image. "What's happening to me, Crono? It feels like . . . I'm being torn apart! Help me, Crono! I'm scared! Please . . . Crono . . . h, help me!" Crono reaches out to hold her, but she suddenly vanishes. Marle disappeared. Nothing is left of her. Crono is now all by himself in an unknown world.

The night owl sings its song and the crickets continue their cry; Crono's arms are still stretched out to hold Marle.


	3. Chapter III The Queen is Gone

Chapter III

The Queen is Gone

Seconds past, minutes led into hours, and then the sun rose. Crono had slept under the oak tree, with one eye closed, while the other was transfixed to the place Marle had stood screaming. He had decided that once the sun had risen, he would journey to Gaia's Navel, so that he could gather and seal another mana seed's power. Finding Marle is his main goal, but waiting here doesn't seem to help. Crono's best bet is to go to Gaia's Navel, maybe then he can find someone who will help him uncover Marle.

Gathering himself, Crono rose discovering that he was amidst a group of mushrooms and flowers. The beauty of these organic life forms made Crono's heart feel warm inside. He reached out to touch one petal of the pink rose, but only to find his hand being wrenched in teeth. Quickly Crono pulled his hand away, but he wasn't quick enough, the poison had spread throughout his body, he felt peevish. Crono then realized his apparel was not suited for adequate battle. The only way for Crono to beat these monsters was to run, and so he ran. Crono ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the grass wilted as he passed by, and the creatures sprang from the ground at the sound of his panting. He raced through Pandora without speaking to a single person, not realizing that almost all of the people were under a trance. Screaming he carried on north passing wild bees and shrieking mushrooms, and of course the venomous roses. Near a village he fought a mushroom, but with their fierce shriek he collapsed amidst the grass.

"Hey, boy! Wake up", an old man poked Crono with his cane. "Hey, boy, it's not a good idea to sleep here! You never know what might attack," the old man stood by Crono staring at him. The old man poked him again, "Oh, dear! I think he's dead." An elderly woman cackled, "You think everything's dead stupid! You think I'm dead!" "Well, ain't'cha ya old bee hive? I swear this guy's puny. He can't even fight the flowers. Dyluck would put him up fer a good ole' fight. I swear what are these kids eatin' these days . . . fat-free cheese?", the old man rubbed his belly, signaling to his ancient wife that he was hungry. His elderly wife wasn't impressed, "You're so stupid, Henry. I'll feed you later, now we have to take care of this weakling, come on, were going to carry him to the ole estate." "Do we have to, and why do you call it an estate? It's a pit sty . . . " The old woman hit the old man with her cane. "Ow! What'd you do that for? " The old woman scrunched up her face and spit, "You stupid old beggar. Pick up that boy, and quit ending your sentences in prepositions. Calling my house a pit sty, it's pig sty stupid!" The old woman carried on with these remarks and other strange obscenities, while the old man carried Crono, surprisingly the old man could carry Crono, and yet he walks with a cane, most likely his cane was used for style.

Kippo was a peaceful village north of Pandora. Banta the cannon man and the old couple who carried Crono lived here. Each tree was flourishing with green leaves and delectable fruit. Vegetation was prosperous here, even the people seemed healthier than the rest of the world had as of yet revealed. "Henry! You stupid mutt! Where's that cup of coffee? I asked for it an hour ago!" The old woman screeched this as Crono finally opened his eyes. He found himself in a warm bed, inside a small cottage. Out of the corner of his eye he could see what looked like a mahogany table set with china, the windows were open and he could see through the lattice to the evergreen trees, and through a fireplace was a blaze. "By, golly gee! Myrtle, I think the boy's finally come to. I guess our healing powers are still useful, " the old man did a jig across the floor, he obviously had too much whiskey. "Oh, Henry! Put that bottle back where you found it! I'm so tired of your drinking, especially in front of our guest, "Myrtle yelled this to Henry, hoping he'd stop his drunken sailor dance. "Oh, I'm sorry my boy, you must be confused" ,this was what Crono was entirely feeling, the last thing he could remember was racing across the plains attempting to go to Gaia's Navel. "Where am I? ",Crono thought he'd try asking this familiar question. "Oh, well darling . . . " the old woman inched her way over to Crono with a bowl of soup in one hand while the other carried a cup of coffee, "you're in the summer town of Kippo, a peaceful village in the middle of the road. I'm Myrtle and this is my husband Henry. We've been taking care of you for the past couple of days, recuperating your body. You had some sort of poison in you, it most have been from those dratted flowers. I swear one day those flowers are . . . " "would you shut-up ya ole' wind-bag? We've been intoxicating your body with medical herbs. You know it's dangerous to be traveling without any armor, you really should get some.",the old man went on a rampage of rambling to himself. The old woman sipped on her coffee, she kept giving Henry billowy stares. "You know, Henry, why don't you give the poor boy some of your old armor? I seriously doubt you'll ever be using it, besides you've already given Dyluck your best."

"Fine, you old wench!", the old man limped out of the house, in Crono's eyes it was impossible to tell whether this was out of rage or if he was just doing his duty and retrieving Crono armor. "So, my dear boy, what's your name? Where are you from? " Crono didn't know how to answer this, "Well, I'm Crono . . . and I'm from . . . Potos, but I can't go back there . . . " Crono made a dramatic pause. "Oh, my poor boy! You're house broken! It's been so long since we've had a youth here. Oh, how I miss my son Dyluck." Myrtle pulled out a stool and began to tell a story, obviously about her son. "Dyluck is a good boy. His whole life he wanted to be a knight. He trained hard and escalated in training in Pandora. He found himself a girl, oh I never can remember her name . . . but he moved to Pandora last year so he could be closer to her, he's become the Knight Commander of Pandora. I couldn't be more proud of him, I just hope he doesn't try too hard . . . His predecessor was Cyrus you know? Cyrus was a great knight. Cyrus and Glenn, they protected so much of the world. I can. . . . " No one will ever know what Myrtle was going to say, because Henry came storming in with a barrel load of armor. After showing Crono the proper way to wear Henry's old armor, giving Crono some extra medical herbs, and a long warm good-bye, Crono set out for Gaia's Navel.

Crono faced the lofty planes alone, he charged into them with ardor, rushing to Gaia's Navel. Finally, he had arrived at Gaia's Navel. A cave stood before him, a waterfall splurged over it, the only thing that stood before him and the cave was one angry bee. Crono dashed across the bee and found himself practically flying through the waterfall, he found himself face to face with a room filled with bats and one loony goblin. Crono hates nothing more than bats. With fear, and anger, Crono sporadically started to slash the bats in a frenzy that slaughtered everything in sight. Crono slunk his way through several goblin infested, bat raged rooms, prevailing, and eventually he found himself in the heart of the cave, where the rhythm of the dwarfs beat against the earthy rocks. In the dark cave, dwarf men ran around the place with their dwarvian beards and hats, they seemed to be protecting the place. A dwarf man came up to Crono, "You can hear rumblings from somewhere even deeper than here! Sounds like digging . . . There are so many earthquakes" , the ground shakes underneath them, "There . . . again!", the dwarf carried on with his business. The dwarf village for some reason was not intrigued by Crono, even though he was strange to the place. Crono then remembered why he had come here so he went up to a dwarf and asked, "Where is the Underground Palace? " "Underground Palace? ",the dwarf scratched his head and gave a malicious smile, "That's been buried for ages, Sunny.", the dwarf began to whack a stone repeatedly with his hammer. "My oh my!", a dwarf behind Crono cried, "You from the surface? A while ago a Sprite's child was washed down here. It's doing magic tricks . . . "

Crono found little help from the Dwarfs, they would either laugh at him or tell him to visit the Sprite who apparently had magical powers. After walking around Crono found a sign for a blacksmith, and then Crono remembered he had also come to this place to reforge the Mana Sword, so it could relinquish its former power. Behind the walls of the shop, the blacksmith carried out his career in a small steamy cave filed with hot magma and fiery lava. The blacksmith turned around wiping the sweat from his face, he narrowed his eyes at the Mana Sword and then with thrill he shouted, "Say, show me that sword! Oh, my . . . it's covered with rust! If I reforge this baby it'll break in no time! Hmmm . . . Let's see . . . ", the blacksmith takes out his hammer and begins to hit it against the sword, he took an orb of some sort and began to lather it against the sword, the sword began to change, but so did the hammer which began to glow as brightly as the morning sun. "Ah! My hammer! What's happening to you? ", the blacksmith threw it down, and stared at in curiosity. "What kinda sword is that, boy? I swear . . . by the way my name is Watts, I'm the greatest blacksmith in the whole wide world. Hmmm . . . Come back later, ya hear kid? Here, take your sword." Watts went over to his hammer and began to examine it carefully, he pulled out some spectacles and slowly moved his fingers over the hammer. Crono left the firey shop.

Now the Mana Sword was slick and shiny, but rust still remained around its edges, Crono sighed to himself, "I guess it was too much to ask to bring it to its peak in one step." Crono had no where to go, he didn't know where the Underground Palace was, Potos had banished him, he had no way to go back home, and once he had found Marle, she disappeared into thin air. Why not amuse himself with a little entertainment? He gathered himself and went over to the cave where the sprite child supposedly was performing. Something seemed wrong just from entering this cave, a hideous cackle burst against Crono's ears, it echoed against the cave. Perplexed, Crono followed his way to the noise finding an elderly dwarf lunging with laughter, "Ha, ha, ha! Oh, hello there . . . ", the dwarf spotted Crono holding his ears as Crono had tried entering the room. The dwarf collected himself and with a complete shift of emotion he said with remorse, "Welcome to the Dwarf Village. Have you been next door? There are many curious things in this village. Why not take a look? Step right on in! It's the Dwarf Village's world famous exhibit hut!" The dwarf said this with such twisted emotion that any fool could tell he had some sort of deception behind it all, but Crono didn't care, the diabolical dwarf said there was entertainment and that's exactly what Crono wanted so he willfully marched over to the other room inside the same dreary cave corridor. Crono found himself in a small room with a puny stage that was purely made out of rocks and dirt, a dusty old counter, and a blue carpet that held stains all over it, it even had a burn mark on it. A dwarf came around the other side of the counter, he resembled the other dwarf, except he was now wearing a different colored hat, Crono thought it made a pretty crummy disguise. "Welcome to the Dwarf Village's world famous exhibit hut!", Crono thought he'd take a chance, "You look like the Elder . . . ", the Dwarf cackled, the same hideous cry, "Elder? Me? Naw, I run a show. Wanna see it, it'll be one-hundred gold pounds? " Crono shrugged his shoulder, "Yes, why not? " The dwarf began to jump up and down, "The show's just starting!" The lights dimmed and Crono was forced to move to the shambled carpet where he stood in front of the stage. The dwarf cackled again, "And now, presenting Rabiteman! The only one in the world!" Crono hollered with joy. "Take one Rabite, and one man, and its . . . Rabiteman!" Crono didn't care he just flat out screamed with joy, jumping around like a little child. The dwarf was confounded, he just gazed at him wondering what in the world was going on with Crono, tell finally he blinked out of his mesmerize, "Hey, you! Pipe down! And now, presenting an actual and very rare, Sprite child!" All the lights were turned off, only a faint voice could be heared, "Boo, hoo, hoo. . . Ah! Won't you please help me?" Crono froze, where had he heard that voice before? It had the same texture, the same inharmonic value, the same exact geekiness that only one person he had ever met had ever had, "Lucca! Is that you?", Crono belted. The lights came on and in front of Crono stood his purple haired, thick glasses, orange dyed clothes, skinny legged, scrawny, brainy, failed at every invention, oldest best friend.

"Crono! You're okay! Did you find the girl?", Lucca, was so ecstatic that she jumped over the stage, inventor costume and all. At this point, the dwarf running the show was entirely muddled. He just kept scratching his head, and rambling things to himself. Crono was more confused though, "Lucca, are you the sprite child?" Lucca laughed, "Don't worry about it Crono. . . I'm not really a sprite. I'm just playing one, so I could get some money. I'll give yours back, no cinch. Now, did you find the girl?" Crono meekly put his head down, "Yeah. . . but she vanished." Lucca's eyes bulged, "Gone? Whadd''ya mean she's gone?" Crono, his head still down, "I had just found her in a goblin village, she was talking then all of a sudden she disappeared, she disappeared while screaming." Lucca put her hand on her chin, her foot was tapping the ground, "Hmm. . .it's just as I thought." She walked around in circles, obviously gathering her thoughts, "That castle it looks identical to the one in _our_ time! I'll bet they mistook that girl for her ancestor. . ." Crono wondered when Lucca would jump off this tangent. Lucca carried on, "You see, she's a member of the royal family in our time! She's Princess Nadia!" Crono froze, his mouth dropped to the ground, and then all he could think about was how naive he had been to have not seen it before now. Lucca now began to talk speedily, "Marle, that is, Princess Nadia, is a descendant of Queen Leene! Queen Leene has been kidnaped in this world. As I recall, in history, someone was supposed to have saved her. But we've changed history. Marle looks so much like Leene, that they probably called off their search when she appeared, but if the real Queen is killed. . . Marle will simply disappear _forever_. There might still be time, if we can save Leene, history as we know it should remain unchanged Something must have happened to the Queen in this era. As a result, Princess Nadia ceases to exist! Hurry! We have to find the real Queen!" Crono had a few problems with all of this though, that he had to discuss, "If Marle has been mistaken for Leene, then how come I found her in the goblin village? Why didn't I find her at Pandora? Plus, why is it called Pandora shouldn't it be Guardia?" Lucca was stumped, "Those are very good questions, Crono. None of that really makes sense. Maybe there is more to this than time, maybe were in an alternate dimension, and somehow we replaced the life's of others with our own, and hence both of our life's have come together, intermingling as one." Crono laughed, "Don't you think that's pretty far fetched?" Lucca frowned, "You're not taking this seriously! We have to find the Queen now, and we have to fix whatever time travel alternate parallel quantum repeating universe we've created! Do you have any idea, any freakin' clue as to where Leene might be?" Crono brain stormed, "Well. . . back in our world she was captured by a cult of monsters who owned a cathedral, but I haven't seen any cathedral's. . ." By serendipity Crono remembered something that Toma said, "The Water Palace! Toma said there was something fishy around the Water Palace! Oh! Luka also said people were snooping around her palace! We have to go to the Water Palace!" Lucca's forehead scrunched up with wrinkles, "Crono, who is Toma and Luka?" "I'll tell you later. . .", Crono put his hand over his face and shook his head.

Just as Crono and Lucca were leaving the exhibit, the elder dwarf jumped in front of them, stopping them before either of them could even leave the blue carpet, "Wait! You two can't leave yet! Don't you hear all that commotion outside? Something big and bad is down 'dere. It might turn you into pancakes! It'd be best if you stayed in here tell all of the ruckus blows over!" "Now that the dwarf mentions it, there is something going on out there, could it be another monster?" ,says Crono. Lucca frowned, "Monster? You've seen monsters?" Crono didn't have time to explain that ever since he had teleported to this strange eerie world, monsters have been following him like a dog to it's tennis ball. Leaping out of the auditorium, and into the corridor, Crono found himself in the main gathering area of the Dwarf Village. All of the dwarfs were gone, they must have locked their selves into their cave homes, because they definitely would have had good reason. In the middle of the town square, a giant man-eating tropical flower had bloomed, it's body appeared half plant the other some form of duck, it's mouth was spurting fire, and all around it the cave shook violently. Crono didn't have time to think of a plan, he just raced to the bottom of the square with his improved sword, he stationed himself and waited for the monster to attack. Right as the monster was about to spray it's toxic flames and Crono was going to strike his head, a white light shot across the room, the sound burst Crono's ears, the tropical monster howled in agony, the flower shriveled up in flames, and all that was left of him floated away as a toxic black smoke that drifted to the top of the cave. Squinting, Crono could see through the smoke to Lucca who was at the front of the exhibit's door, holding her pistol in her left hand, she blew on it. The bullet from her gun not only hit the monster's body, it also caused a chemical reaction with it's powder causing the monster itself to ignite from it's own chemical structure. Slowly the dwarves began appearing, some were holding their heads as they walked, others focused on the floor as they took each step, and then some stood in their doorways dumbfound by the black smoke. "How did Tropicallo escape?" the elder dwarf from the exhibit moved through the crowd of stragglers, he examined the ground feeling it with his hands, a hole had appeared in the wall, this must have been where the monster had appeared. "I don't understand", the elder dwarf walked in circles, "How could this be? Tropicallo was sealed in the underground palace! Uh oh. . ." Crono smirked, "So, the underground palace. Everyone acted like I was a total lunatic when I came here to find it." The elder dwarf shrugged, "Didn't know. You can't get in their anyway." Lucca scratched her head, "Then, how do you explain that hole in the wall. . . Didn't you just say Tropical-loco came from the underground palace, isn't that it?" The elder dwarf whined, "Doesn't matter. Beyond that hole is another seal, that's protected by Ozzie. No one can get in there without him unsealing it." Lucca shrugged, "Oh. . ." The elder dwarf perked up, "But, since you two have saved our village from the infamous Tropicallo, that can only mean you our the legendary heros who have came to save all of humanity." The elder dwarf continued, "I must give you these gifts, here is a boomerang, a bow with its arrows, and an axe that was recently made from Watts. As well you may use the secret entrance that will allow you to leave this cave with ease, you will find it in Watts store." Crono and Lucca left the cave and journeyed northwest to the Water Palace.

Hours later, Crono and Lucca had finally arrived near the Water Palace, Crono, for the first time, noticed a sign "Need Rest or some goods? Come to my place! Just hang a left!" Tired and bewildered, the two decided to take a break, and so they followed the sign where they found a cozy cottage built in the wilderness where all the wild-berries and thorn berries grew, each window had lattice, and near this cozy setting a circus tent was pitched and oh, behold a giant purple kitty with their satchel was standing in front of some sort of monster, with their sword pointed at it's neck. Lucca spotted something glittering in the grass. She picked it up and held it close to her humongous spectacles. "Crono look! It's a hair pin! That's Guardia's royal crest!" The cat creature glanced at the new arrivals for a half-second then slaughtered the beast with one blow. "Lower thine guard and thou'r allowing the enemy in. Thou'rt here to save the Queen? The lair is deep within. Will thee accompany me?" The purple kitty bowed it's head. Lucca was startled, she shrieked at the top of her lungs, "A. . . A PURPLE CAT? It's a talking PURPLE CAT! I hate cats!", she covered her eyes. The cat lowered it's head more, "My guise doth not incur thy trust. . ." It jumped up and turned itself towards the circus and began to walk towards the entrance, "Very well, do as thee please, but I shall save the Queen." Lucca peeked through her hands, at the creature, containing herself she finally spoke, "Stop!" She took her hand away and stared at the ground, then gathered the courage to look the cat straight in the eyes, "You don't seem like a bad. . .uh, person-cat-thing. . . I mean. . . Crono, what do you think we should do?" Crono shrugged, "I think we should accompany him, we are here to save Marle." Lucca gave Crono a peevish look, "I'll just have to handle it! I mean. . . deal with. . .him!" There was a long and pointless pause then Lucca asked, "What's your name?" The cat looked up at the sky then smiled, "Frog will do." Crono's mouth dropped, "What? Why Frog, don't you mean Cat?" The cat began to shrivel, "Cat would make since to thine, but my truth belongs thus in another form, in another world, and thus I shall be called Frog, to continue my past identity. I don't know why I've been turned into a cat, but thy know why I was a frog." Crono and Lucca glared at each other, what did the creature mean? Lucca held out her hand for the cat to shake it, "All right. . . Nice to meet you. . . Frog.", the cat took it's purple paw and shook her hand. The cat again faced the circus entrance, "Behind this door lays waste to a religion profound in a pagan monster." Frog raced through the door as Lucca and Crono shrugged then skipped into the circus wondering if this was Marle's salvation.

In the domain of this vile contentious circus, imp's dressed in pirate suits danced around the hallway, as half women half snake creatures slithered on their bellies swallowing the dust. Frog whispered to Crono, "Becareful, it would be best if we didn't fight these beasts, thus no one will have knowledge of us being here." Crono, Lucca, and Frog tiptoed in the shadows avoiding the imps and nagas. Lucca pointed to a door and then moved towards it, the other two followed. Lucca pulled the door and stood there in the doorway as she opened a room to a fabulously made dining room, "Burrrp!", an Imp threw his cup at the door, it shattered into a thousand pieces. The imp along with his naga friend and blue suited neanderthal laughed hysterically. The imp spoke up to Lucca, "Hey what's with that disguise? No need for that here!" Strangely enough the imp looked at his watch, "It's almost my shift! I hate pretending to be human. . . it's so repulsive." Lucca thought to herself, "They've been pretending to be human?" The naga burped. She then cackled to herself, "The onesss we ate resssently weren't ssso bad. And thossse two sssoliders we caught look rather plump, and _juisssy_." The blue-suited neanderthal cackled, "Yakra's so smart! His plan to capture the Chancellor and take his place worked perfectly! Now we have the Queen, and the castle's in an uproar!" Crono and Lucca looked at each other in horror, Frog squeezed his palms. The imp stretched his arms then leapt from his chair which crashed to the floor, "I'll look in on Magus' statue before my shift." He raced past Lucca, Crono, and Frog. Lucca shut the door. Lucca pondered the atmosphere, "It is truly amazing how this circus structure stands. How did they build all of these rooms inside of the tent." Crono and Frog stared at her, wondering why she even cared. They followed the imp to another room. Inside was a giant statue that resembled an elfish man with long hair, his cape covered him, and in one hand he carried a scythe. Several imps were worshiping the statue. One of the imps began to sing a strange tune, "Oh. . . dearest Magus. . . Your flashing eyes. . . like stars. . . And flowing hair. . . Like waves atop the sea. . . No sad sunny day nor any frightful bright place can get us down as long as you're near. . . There's nothing to fear. . ." A chrous then irrupted from the other imps, "Magus, oh Magus, Our Hero, Magus Come join us in singing your funeral dirge!" One of the imps spotted Crono and company, he pointed at them "They want the Naga-ette Bromide!" Get them!" "The Naga-ette Bromide?" Crono wondered what a Naga-ette Bromide was while the imps with their pitchforks began poking and prodding at Crono's tush. "Yeeeow!", Crono squalled then took his sword and began slashing mercilessly. A round object fell to the floor and Lucca scooped it up in her hands. The three backed their selves out of the room as Crono continued to slice and dice. Eventually they found himself back in the main hallway. "Crono?" Lucca suddenly stopped and pointed to a strange object on the wall, "What's that?" Frog examined it, "It's a switch." He hit the switch and a row of spikes that were on the floor magically disappeared, a door was free to open. Lucca moved closer, "Let's see what's inside." Crono and Frog moved in, "No!", but they were to late, she opened the door.

Behind the door two soldiers sat on a table, food baskets circled the room. A soldier turned his head and narrowed his eyes, he looked well-fed, "Y,you're humans? They're hiding the Queen in the back. Please rescue her!" The three began to leave then Lucca turned around, "You guys know you're free right? Why are you still sitting there?" One of the soldier boys remarked, "Because we would just be recaptured again. Until someone saves the Queen and defeats that Yakra character. . .", the other soldier interrupted, "we'll remain here." The three left the room, Frog called them a bunch of cowards and then they continued down the hallway, avoiding monsters and passing the obstacles that had been set in place to offset outsiders.

At the top most room an old man's voice was heard through the door, "Prepare yourself, Queen Leene!" Frog broke through the door, unsheathed his sword and pointed it straight at the old man's face, a beautiful lavishly dressed maiden was tied to a chair. The old man spit at the sword, "How did you get in here?" The maiden screamed, "Frog!", the old man slapped her face. The old man cackled to himself, and then he stood up from his desk. "It's useless to fight! No one will leave here alive! Stupid frog. . . I mean cat, it's time you scratched off this mortal coil! The old man bent over and began rippling in form as his body changed into a hideous monstrous creature that resembled a giant carpet with feet. Frog, Crono, and Lucca began to fight the shag carpet who referred to himself as Yakra. As Frog and Lucca were fighting Crono secretly went over to Leene and untied her ropes. Yakra noticed the heroic act and then began to charge towards Crono, but Frog spliced him when the carpet turned, and thus the carpet was eternally stained.

Leene cried and ran over to Frog, "You came to resuce me! Thank you Frog." Frog bowed, "The King awaits. Let us return to the castle. I thank thee Crono, and Lucca." Leene turned to her other rescuers, "Yes, thank you so much. Please join us at the castle." The four left the mad circus. Frog panicked, "Look what those foul beasts have done to my safe haven. It will take me years to get this vile tent out of my yard, let alone the smell of blood." There was a long lull after this, alongside awkward stares. The resemblance between Leene and Marle was uncanny. Both had the same green eyes and the same golden red hair. Leene smiled, "Your timing was perfect. Who knows what would have happened had you not saved me! By the way, where is the girl who was mistaken for me?" Lucca jumped, "Oh, yeah! I totally forgot all about Princess Nadia", she turned to Crono, "Where did Princess Nadia disappear? She may still be there!" Surprisingly the area in which Marle vanished was nearby. Crono surged through the woods and Lucca followed close behind him. Near the giant oak tree, a scorching light was penetrating a point at which the outline of Marle began to emit. Crono stared as Marle finally appeared. She fell to her knees, and shyly looked up at Crono and Lucca, "What happened?" Lucca bent over and examined her, "Princess Nadia!" Princess Nadia seemed as if she was in a trance, she sat on the ground frozen, "Crono, it was awful. . . I can't exactly recall it all. . ." She arose from the ground, she stood there shyly with her hands behind her back, "I was somewhere cold, dark. . . and lonely." She paused then moved in closer, moving her arms to her sides "Is that what it's like to. . .die?" Crono shuttered, he wanted to comfort her but he didn't know how. Lucca joyously exclaimed to the young princess, "Welcome back, Princess Nadia!" Marle slowly turned, slightly moving her eye-brows lower, "You rescued your life to help me, too? Wait. . . Princess Nadia! Oh no. . ." Marle looked ashamed as she turned her head and stared deep into the grass, "I guess you guys figured it out who I am." She looked up, her eyes glowing, "I'm sorry Crono" ,she began to shake her head, "I didn't mean to deceive you. I am Princess Nadia. My father's King Guardia the XXXIII." She moved her hair behind her ear, "I really enjoyed being with you at the fair, but if you had known my identity. . ." She held her hands together and put them in front of her face, "Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the fair, right?" Crono said, "No. Of course not." Marle's face beamed with joy, "Oh, Crono! That's why I like you! The real Queen's safe, right? So then let's go home, Crono!" Lucca glowered, "Home? How do you suspect we get home?" Marle blinked, "We can't go home?" Lucca shook her head, "No, somehow my telepod sent us here, and there hasn't been any clues on how to get home. We'll have to stay here until we can find some sort of way home. What's more, I think this all has to do with your pendant. It was the only thing that caused the telepod to malfunction. That pendant must be the key to home, you still have it, right Crono?" Crono actually had the pendant clutched in his hand, he wanted to return it. "Here Marle. It belongs to you." Crono placed the pendant in the palm of her hand, she stared at it in astonishment, then put it around her neck. Lucca looked annoyed, "I actually wanted to see it." Crono was annoyed, "And what do you plan to do with it? You're the one that got us into this mess, Lucca! It's truly amazing how many flawed inventions you've created, we're lucky that none of us perished!" Crono had been wanting to say this for awhile, but he never felt that he actually should. Lucca frowned, "I guess there's no point in examining it." She said this way too casually for Crono's comfort.

Queen Leene and Frog were finally coming down the road following the others, they were obviously headed for Pandora. Marle froze, "You're the real Queen Leene?" Leene was puzzled, "You really could be my twin." Both of them stared at each other wondering what the other was thinking, how is it possible that Queen Leene from the Middle Ages could be standing with the young princess in the present? What time continuum have they fallen into? Frog began to walk away from everybody, "'Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the Queen. I shall depart for good." Over his shoulder Frog glanced at them, "Crono, you hath _potential_ to be a good swordsman!" He began to walk away into the woods, Lucca called after him, "Wait!" He stopped, but he didn't turn to look at her, "Froggy you weren't such a bad guy either." Frog walked away into the woods, all of them watched him until he disappeared.

"I don't understand what he means", said Queen Leene. "I think I do.", Lucca said under her breath. Queen Leene sighed, "We must return to the castle. I hope you will all accompany me." "Crono, Lucca why don't you come _home_ with Leene and me to the castle? I'd like you to come over for dinner!" Queen Leene stared at her, "Marle, how is it your home?" "Well. . . Even though we seem to be mixed up with the past, I still consider the castle my home." Queen Leene was confused, but she decided to accept it rather than argue over something so complicated. Lucca became apologetic, "Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, Marle." Marle smiled, "Are you kidding? This is the most fun I've had in months! And I have some new friends! I haven't had this much adventure, since well. . . ever!" Lucca smiled, "Okay. Crono, be a gentleman and take them to the castle. I'm going to head back to Gaia's Navel and do some research on the underground palace." Marle waved good-bye to her as she drifted away to the dwarf village.

Crono began to escort the royal family to the castle, but all he could think about was how Marle said "That's why I _like_ you. . ." What did she mean?


	4. Chapter IV We

Chapter IV

We're Back!

Marle heard a crowd of voices coming all around her as if some sort of parade or festival was all around her. She rubbed her eyes and opened them, finding herself back at Lucca's sideshow, along with Crono at her side. She gawked at the surrounding, realizing that before she had taken her home for granted. She wondered how she got here, she thought maybe her pendant allowed her to come back. To be honest, she really didn't care. She was back in the village. Home was so close, she could see the castle's towers above the trees. She looked over at Crono who seemed to just be standing perfectly in her sight. She grabbed his arm, "Crono! We're back! I can finally go home!" Crono uttered, "I don't know how it happened, but everything seems so much greater than before we left." "Hey, Crono, I want you to come over to the castle for dinner. Will you come with me?" He nodded his head.

Marle and Crono spent the morning at the fair; they went to all the events they hadn't gone before the warp. They indulged in games and in gaining silver coins, which could be traded for prizes and real money. They fought Lucca's singing-robot, mastered the strength test, danced at a barbaric reenact ament, and guessed exactly how many jelly beans were in a jar that an old man carried. At the renowned "Tent of Horrors" Crono won Marle a doll that looked identical to her. The two walked over to the center fountain where they sat and ate homemade chicken.

"Crono?" Crono was stuffing his face with chicken. Marle giggled. In her mind, she felt that she had never been so free, she felt like she was a bird flying in the sky. "Hey, Crono?" "Mmmm?" "When, I was little, every time I passed a fountain I'd put a coin in and make a wish." She sat there and brought her knees up to her head and crossed her arms over them, then she leaned back slightly. She began to speak again, "I may seem a little superstitious, but I believe that if you truly believe in a wish then it will come true." Crono looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he finished his last bit of chicken. "Why don't you make a wish?", she asked as she put one leg on the ground and turned her head to stare straight at him. Crono smiled, "Why not?" He stood up and rubbed his hands together, "All right. . . so does it matter what kind of coin?" Marle giggled, "No silly, just as long as you have faith." "Okay." Crono took out one of the silver coins from the fair and held it in his palm. He thought of all things he had ever desired, but one thing came to mind. "Is it okay if I wish out loud?" "The most important thing is to believe." Crono stared at the coin in his hand, "Okay, my whole life I've lived with my mother, and there's been one question that I've constantly asked myself. Where's my father? And so I wish that one day I will finally find my father.", he tossed the coin into the fountain and there was a slight splash followed by a thud. Marle stared into the fountain, she realized how profound and deep life was outside of the castle. Her sorrows were so little compared to the rest of the world. Ever since she had met Crono, her whole life seemed to be shaken. "Marle? Are you going to make a wish?" Marle jumped off the fountain realizing she had fallen into a trance, "Of course!" She found a silver coin and then smiled to herself, she closed her eyes and then _gracefully _with perfection threw the coin into the fountain. "Wait, Marle, you didn't say what you wished for!" "Oh, I had to keep it to myself."

Leene's Bell rang perfectly at noon. Crono wanted to go home to check on his mother so the two went over to Crono's home. Crono's mother was busy washing dishes, the house was spotless and a cat came over to Crono's side like magic. The lovely little home was perfect to Marle. She had never seen anything so darling, she loved the beautiful blue couch, the palm tree that stood in the corner, and the bear rug under the table set for three. Crono's mother glanced over her shoulder at Crono and Marle from her dishes, "Why hello! Who's this Crono? I don't believe I've met this young lady" She turned around to greet Marle, she took off her yellow rubber gloves. The light came through the window and a rainbow spectrum reflected all around the small room. "Hi, I'm Marle." Crono's mother examined her from head to toe, "My, my! You look so familiar, I just can't place it. I wish you'd show me more of your friends Crono, all I ever see is Lucca. Will you be staying for dinner?" Marle shook her head, "No Mam, I've invited Crono over to eat dinner with my family, is that okay?" Crono's mother sighed, "Yes, just stay out of trouble Crono. And don't be home late." The sun was beginning to set, and Marle thought it would be best to leave soon so the two journeyed through Guardia Forest.

Journeying through the thick woods darkness begin to spread and Marle hoped she wouldn't be too late to get home before the moon could be seen. A furry creature ran across the woods. Birds flew from tree to tree. Night was coming quick. In the middle of the forest Marle was lost in thought, and her foot stumbled on a tiny insignificant pebble, she began to fall backwards, but almost half-way to the ground a hand caught her back. Marle felt embarrassed by her clumsiness, and then each second began to feel like hours, maybe even years. She slowly looked up and she stared straight into Crono's face and his ameliorate smile, and for the first time she noticed the color of his eyes, they were the most brilliant shade of light blue she had ever seen. For some reason she began to feel different, maybe she was sick, maybe she was hungry, she wasn't sure, all she knew was the this was the most quiet yet beautiful moment of her life, all she wanted was to. . .

Queen Leene was sleeping nearby peacefully. The bonfire they had built earlier was still ablaze, and seemed to be going strong. Last night, the three decided to sleep in the forest because they had all become so tired and Pandora was so far. So they found a place in the middle of the woods were they could build a fire and not be disturbed by the monsters. The wind was all around, and it made all the leaves rustle, and the grass sway. Crono was leaning against a tree with his sword at his hand, his eyes were wide open and he was staring out into the thicket, and Marle for a moment squinted to see if maybe she could look into them, but the night was so dark that it was impossible for her to make out any color. He began to turn his head, and Marle closed her eyes and pretended she was still sleeping. "Dreams whether they are sweet or wicked are always cruel. If only one day a dream did come true.", Marle thought to herself as she dozed off into another dream. Crono stared into the fire, he guarded the two royalties the whole night without a wink of sleep. He slid down the tree and stared across the fire straight at the sleeping beauty, knowing he had been watched.

"A dream is a wish you heart makes. . ."


	5. Does anyone care?

1Do you enjoy this story? Because if no one in the entire universe does, then why should it exist? If I get any comments, that you would like me to continue this story, I will. Otherwise, it's off to the trash can with Crono and friends...


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